


Leave It All (Say It's True)

by The_Clock_Strikes_Twilight



Series: Celestial Songs [11]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: AkuSai Month 2020 (Kingdom Hearts), Angst, Celestial Songs, LeaIsa Month 2020 (Kingdom Hearts), Love Confessions, M/M, Musical Prompt Playlist, Pining, Post-Canon, Songfic, Songs of the Sun and Moon, long distance, post kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:34:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25619707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Clock_Strikes_Twilight/pseuds/The_Clock_Strikes_Twilight
Summary: There’s an area in the castle with a small balcony with a perfect view of the sky. The moon and all the stars. On nights when Isa can’t sleep—for one reason or another—this is where he finds himself. It’s the one place where he always feels calm. It never matters if he’s had a nightmare or some sort of meltdown… When he’s here, he’s safe.“You can’t sleep, either?” a voice breaks through the silence. Isa glances over his shoulder to see Lea joining him. “This has got to be the best spot in the whole castle,” Lea goes on as he steps up to the ledge and rests his elbows on the stone wall. “The view is always so gorgeous.”
Relationships: Isa/Lea (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Celestial Songs [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1820650
Kudos: 11





	Leave It All (Say It's True)

**Author's Note:**

> Song Used: "Another Heart Calls" by The All-American Rejects feat. The Pierces
> 
> July 30th, Day 24 of LeaIsa/AkuSai Month

_Do you remember when we didn’t care?_

_We were just two kids that took the moment when it was there_

_Do you remember you at all?_

_Another heart calls…_

It’s been a strange six months. Everything looks normal. Radiant Garden looks like it used to. Twilight Town looks like it always has. Maybe with a few improvements. Everything is just…normal. Isa doesn’t feel normal, though. He doesn’t feel like himself. He thought the lack of golden-amber eyes would make a difference. It didn’t. He thought changing out of the Organisation coat would make a difference. That didn’t, either. No matter the changes made to his physical appearance, there’s still one thing that will always remain the same.

The sigil.

It’s _X_ -shaped scar has faded drastically over the course of the last six months, but Isa still knows it’s there. Of course. He only had to live with it for a decade. Stare at his branded face for a decade. Six months isn’t going to make him forget. He can’t forget. No matter how hard he tries… He spent so many years as _Saïx_ trying not to recall his past and now he can only remember is his time with the Organisation. It’s a cruel twist of fate.

This morning is no different than any of the others. He avoids mirrors. Anything that can show his reflection. That’s the only normal thing about this life. As he’s going about his morning, though, Demyx reaches out to him. Calls him. Isa wants to ignore the call, but something tells him he shouldn’t. Upon answering, Demyx simply tells him to make his way to the Lab as soon as he can. That’s it. That’s the extent of the conversation. Isa shakes his head with a soft sigh. Not like he has anything else to do, so he heads for the Lab. As he gets closer, voices start to carry. One voice in particular is familiar. Still familiar even after going six months without hearing it.

When he reaches the entrance to the Lab, the conversation stops almost immediately. Isa is swarmed and suffocated by a red mane. By arms wrapped tight around him. Huh. This is probably the strangest thing to happen yet.

When the redhead pulls away from the embrace, Isa can get a better look at him. At Lea. It’s been six months since they last saw each other. So, Isa is still getting used to seeing him without the purple marks under his eyes. Other than that, though, he looks…tired. He’s happy, but there’s exhaustion around his eyes. And he only knows that Lea is happy because he’s smiling at Isa.

“Hey, you look good,” Lea says, rubbing at Isa’s arms. “It’s good to see ya.”

Isa isn’t sure how to respond. “Were we expecting you back by now?”

“Riku sent me back here to check on the kids and everyone. I’ll probably catch up with him again in a month or so.”

He nods his head. “Right.” Lea’s hands are still on his shoulders and he’s not sure if he wants to shrug them away or not. “Uhm. Welcome back.”

Lea chuckles. “Why do you seem so nervous?”

To Isa, this is a silly question. A _strange_ question. Hell, he and Lea haven’t seen each other for six months. He has no idea what to expect of their…relationship, for lack of a better term. Their friendship. As of right now, it’s an enigma to him; it might as well not exist.

_Yeah, I remember when we stole the night_

_We’d lie awake but dreaming till the sun would wash the sky…_

There’s an area in the castle with a small balcony with a perfect view of the sky. The moon and all the stars. On nights when Isa can’t sleep—for one reason or another—this is where he finds himself. It’s the one place where he always feels calm. It never matters if he’s had a nightmare or some sort of meltdown… When he’s here, he’s safe.

“You can’t sleep, either?” a voice breaks through the silence. Isa glances over his shoulder to see Lea joining him. “This has got to be the best spot in the whole castle,” Lea goes on as he steps up to the ledge and rests his elbows on the stone wall. “The view is always so gorgeous.”

Isa observes him but doesn’t say anything. He still doesn’t know what to say. There’s so much history between them now. Bad blood. He’s not sure where he stands in Lea’s life. Of course, he knows _asking_ him and actually talking to him about it would be the easiest way to find out, but… That’s not an easy question to ask. Especially when the answer may be better left unsaid.

_Just as soon as I see you_

_But didn’t I, but didn’t I tell you_

_As deep as I need you_

_You wanna leave it all…_

“How has your journey been?” Isa soon speaks up.

“Long,” Lea says. He lets out a soft sigh. “There’s still a long way for us to go, too. Doesn’t help that we don’t know exactly where we’re going, either.”

“It’ll be worth it in the end, right?”

“I sure as hell hope so.” He straightens himself, moving from resting on his elbows to his hands. “Y’know, uh,” he clears his throat, “there’s another reason Riku let me come back sooner rather than later.”

“A reason other than checking up on the kids?”

“Yeah.” He turns to face Isa, a tinge of colour in his cheeks. “He was kinda getting sick of how much I would talk about you.”

Isa doesn’t let himself react. Not that he would still know how. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Lea steps away from the balcony’s ledge and up to Isa, taking his hands in his own. “I’ve missed you.”

Isa’s gaze is stuck on their clasped hands as his heart begins to race. Not in a good way, though. If there even is a good way. He just knows that it’s uncomfortable and he wants it to stop. “What are you getting at?”

Lea shifts his weight from foot to foot, but he doesn’t let go of Isa’s hands. “I’m trying to tell you that you—You mean a lot to me. And with everything we’ve been through, I just feel like it’s proof that we can survive anything together.” He lifts his gaze to meet Isa’s. “It’s proof of how I feel about you.”

His hands tremble ever so slightly, and he hopes Lea didn’t notice. “How you… _feel_ about me?”

“Well…yeah.” He clears his throat again as his body seems to tense up. “I mean…I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you.”

Isa pauses, choosing now to pull his hands from the redhead’s grasp. He then folds his arms across this chest. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

_What can I do?_

_Say it’s true_

_Or everything that matters breaks in two_

_Say it’s true_

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you…_

Lea’s hands are still hovering in midair. “E-excuse me?”

“You can’t just say something like that as if it doesn’t mean anything.”

“What are you talking about? All I said was that—” He shakes his head. “Was it the _pretty sure_ part? Because I’m not just pretty sure. I know I’m in love with you.”

He nearly cringes at hearing those words again. He covers his face with his hands. “Stop saying that.”

Now Lea just looks offended. Pissed off. “What is your issue?”

He runs his fingers through his hair, smoothing it back. “My issue?” He scoffs. “You’ve been gone for six months. Better yet, by the time I came to, you were only around for a week before you left for those six months. And now you’ve come back and you—You wanna say _that_ to me?” He lets out an incredulous chuckle. “Do you expect me to just automatically say it back to you? Because I still can’t figure out how I’m feeling on a daily basis half the time. I’m still reacclimating myself to even having emotions and you wanna try to throw _love_ at me?” He shakes his head, suddenly at a loss for words. “I can’t—”

“Okay, I get it,” Lea says, his head turned down sheepishly. “I just thought after a decade of lying to each other that you deserved some honesty.”

“That’s not what you should be honest about right now. That’s not even what you should be thinking about. There are so many other important things—”

“You’re important.”

He shuts his mouth, clenching his jaw as he chokes back the rest of his sentence. He takes a deep breath, calming himself down. Tch. Lea just has to make this difficult. “Things are too…different between us now,” Isa then goes on. “We’re not kids anymore, Lea. And there’s a lot we can’t bounce back from. I mean, you’re telling me that you’re allegedly in love with me, but… You’re practically a stranger to me now.”

He's taken aback by this. “A stranger?” He shakes his head. “Except we’ve still known each other for the last ten years. I know you better than anyone else, just like you know me better than anyone else. That much hasn’t changed.”

“It has changed. We lost our hearts and the ones we’ve gained back aren’t necessarily the same.”

“What the hell is that even supposed to mean? Because it sounds like a bullshit excuse to me.”

“An excuse for what?”

He shrugs his shoulders, scoffing. “I dunno…”

Isa lets out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, but this just isn’t something I’m prepared for. And it’s something I’ll have to think about because I’m honestly not even sure it’s something I would want. And I know that’s not what you want to hear, but—”

“Don’t worry about it. For someone who’s terrible at expressing himself, you’ve made it loud and clear.” He scratches the back of his head. “G’night.”

With that, Lea is quick to take his leave. Isa releases another sigh as he turns back to the moon and stars. Tch. So much for serenity. This spot is no longer the best in the castle. If anything, it’s now the worst.

_Talk to me, I am throwing myself in front you_

_This could be the last mistake that I would ever wanna do_

_Yet, all I ever do is give; it’s time you see my point of view…_

Lea would’ve caught back up with Riku that very same night after that dreadful chat with Isa if Riku hadn’t reached out to him first to let him know that he would be coming home, too. Great. Facing Isa again won’t be easy. Not in the slightest. It’ll be awkward and tense, and he doesn’t want to have to deal with it.

Six weeks later and Lea is finally getting over the discussion. The confession. Six stupidly long weeks later. By now he also has his own place in Twilight Town, whereas Isa chose to remain in Radiant Garden. That’s fine with him. Tch. He used to want nothing more than to see Isa every second of every minute of every hour of every day. Then he had to be gone for six months and—Well…this isn’t what he wanted. Because now Lea is doing everything in his power to _avoid_ Isa at all costs. Not that that’s difficult when they live in separate worlds.

This definitely isn’t what he wanted to get used to.

That morning he’s getting ready to leave his place and meet Roxas, Xion, and Naminé at the Old Mansion. Before he leaves, though, he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror near his front door. It catches him off guard. Almost like he forgot it was there. He stops and takes a look at himself. A small part of him misses the upside teardrops. His face just seems so bare without them. And a small part of him misses them because a small part of him wishes he wouldn’t be such a crybaby. He has no problem expressing himself, but he doesn’t want to deal with the tears. He just wants to be over to get over a situation and move on.

He wants to get over Isa.

Lea shakes his head and fluffs out his hair. If he wants to move on, then he’s gotta stop thinking so much about it. About _him_. When he opens his front door, though, Isa just so happens to be standing on the other side.

“I’m only here because Ienzo asked me to stop by,” Isa says.

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, good to see you, too, buddy.” He moves past him, heading down the front steps and in the direction of the mansion. “Why did Ienzo ask you to come?”

He follows close enough behind, but still keeps a good distance between them. “He didn’t give me a reason. Just told me to come here.”

“And you did. So, I guess that means you can go now. But don’t worry, I’ll vouch for you if Ienzo reaches out to me.”

“At least tell me how you’re doing.”

Lea stops dead in his tracks, turning on his heel to face Isa. “Do you even care? I mean, I was under the impression that we aren’t friends anymore. You did say I’m practically a stranger to you, after all.”

Isa scoffs softly. “Fine.”

He swallows hard, nodding. “Fine.”

He never believed walking away would be so easy. It shouldn’t be easy. He doesn’t want it to be easy. But it is. And it’s in this moment he wishes for the upside-down marks under his eyes.

_Just as soon as I see you_

_But didn’t I, but didn’t I tell you_

_As deep as I need you_

_You wanna leave it all…_

“C’mon, ya just gotta meet someone new to move on,” Demyx says. Lea is visiting him in Radiant Garden and is officially the only person—outside the conversation—to know about what happened between him and Isa. “I can introduce you to some people.”

Lea quirks an eyebrow. “Who the hell do you know that I don’t?”

He pauses. “All right, fine. But I can at least take you places to meet new people.”

Now he shakes his head. “I’m not interested in meeting anyone new.” At this point, it’s only been about three months since the… _incident_. He doesn’t think meeting someone new will be much help, either.

Demyx seems to think otherwise. “It’s the only way you’ll get over Isa.”

“Maybe I don’t wanna get over him.”

He bursts out laughing. “What? You just wanna dwell on what happened, then?”

“I dunno.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Guess I’m just holding out hope that Isa will change his mind. Or that he’ll realise he _does_ feel the same way.”

“Not to be a downer, but… What if that never happens?”

Yeah, Lea has already asked himself that same question. He tries not to think about any of the possible answers, though. “I think I’m just more mad at myself than anything,” he goes on. “If I hadn’t confessed then we’d still be friends. Or at least trying to rebuild our friendship. And I’d take that over nothing. Hell, I’d take having him as just a friend over not having him in my life at all.”

“Why not tell him that? I mean, maybe it can act as a sort of reset for you two to just start fresh.”

“I’m not sure it’ll ever be that simple.”

Demyx thinks for a moment. “Didn’t you say he had mentioned something about being jealous of Roxas and Xion as he was fading away in the graveyard?”

Lea isn’t sure he wants to know where he’s going with this. “Yeah…”

He smirks. “Maybe we need to try and touch upon that jealousy again. And what better way to make someone jealous than by meeting someone new?”

He almost considers this before just shaking his head. “No. That wouldn’t be fair. And it wouldn’t be right. I refuse to stoop that low.”

“Could be worse.”

He chuckles. “Not helping.”

Demyx laughs a bit, as well. “Okay, okay. In all seriousness, though, I hope things work out for you and Isa. Personally, I think you two would be perfect together. Plus, the sexual tension between you two during the Organisation years was _palpable_.” Lea hits him in the shoulder in response to that comment and Demyx laughs even harder. “What? You know I’m right.”

Lea rolls his eyes, shaking off the heat in his cheeks, but he’s also chuckling again. “No, you’re ridiculous.”

“What’s so funny?” a voice then asks. They both turn their heads to see Isa rounding the corner. “You two can be heard from down the hall.”

_What can I do?_

_Say it’s true_

_Or everything that matters breaks in two_

_Say it’s true_

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you_

_And I know what you want is to figure it out_

_And god knows I do, too_

_Yeah, what can I do?_

_Say it’s true_

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you…_

“Just an inside joke,” Demyx says, his gaze shifting between Lea and Isa. “All right. I’m gonna go.” And he leaves without another word.

Lea watches where Demyx had been sitting just a moment ago before clearing his throat. “I should probably get back to Twilight Town.”

Isa’s gaze follows the redhead as he heads for the door. “What’s the rush?”

He slows his pace. “No rush. Just got a date with the sunset.” Isa chuckles at this and it catches Lea off guard. “Well…see ya.” The hand on his shoulder causes him to stumble before he turns to face the other. “Uh…what’s up?”

His eyes are turned to the ground. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been okay.”

“Good, good…”

Isa nods before lifting his gaze. Lea’s breath catches in his throat at the sight of his teal eyes. After ten years, he never realised just how much he missed that colour. Teal eyes separated by an _X_. Hmm. He wonders if Isa spends as much time staring at his scar as Lea does staring at his bared cheeks. Of course, it’s not the same. Lea was able to get rid of the tattoos. Isa had no choice but to keep the scar.

“Lea?”

He shakes his head and refocuses on Isa. He swallows hard. “I really should go.”

“Meeting someone?”

He stops again. “Why would that matter?”

“Well, when I said yours and Demyx’s voices carry… I may have heard a bit of your chat from down the hall.”

He purses his lips. Now he understands what this is all about. “What’s your point?”

Isa pauses. “Are you seeing anyone?”

He forgets how to breathe for a brief moment. Tch. _Unbelievable_. “No—”

“You’re not?”

“No—No, I mean— _No_ , as in… Don’t do this. I-it’s not…fair.”

“What isn’t fair?”

Lea shakes his head as he tries deciding on the best reaction for this scenario. The best response. “I told you how I felt, and you came back with… I’m a _stranger_ to you.”

“Yes, I know. You seem to enjoy bringing that up.”

“Enjoy? You—You think I _enjoy_ this? Because this,” he gestures between the two of them, “is not enjoyable. We’re supposed to be—” He chokes on the words. He can’t say what he wants to say. How he truly feels. Last time he did, he got shot down. “We should be best friends, at the least. And I couldn’t even get that from you all because I was gone for six months.”

“Well, what would you expect? We had no time to—”

“To what? Bond over the trauma Xemnas put us through? Because that’s not really what I wanted to be reminiscing about.”

Isa’s jaw is clenched. “That’s not what I was getting at.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore. Just like it doesn’t matter if I’m seeing anyone or not. Besides, that wouldn’t even be any of your business.”

“Maybe I want it to be my business?”

Lea has lost track of this conversation. He no longer has any clue what direction it’s going on. “Okay. What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Isa steps up to Lea, hesitantly taking his hands in his own. And just like that, this moment has become eerily familiar. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” Lea says. He pulls his hands out of Isa’s grasp and takes a step back, along with a deep breath. “You can’t do this.”

Isa seems…taken aback. “Do what?”

“This. You can’t just try and recreate the moment from those few months ago and try to make it better. That’s not how this works.”

“Well, what if I thought I had made a mistake?”

“A mistake? That’s what you wanna talk this down to?”

Isa lets out an exasperated sigh. “What more do you want from me? I’ve already been trying to get more used to my own feelings and to be more conscientious of those around me. I’m still trying to figure out how you even came to the conclusion you had, though. I mean, you had been so confident in your confession and I honestly don’t understand why. Hell, you seemed so sure that I would feel the same way.” He shrugs his shoulders in an almost overexaggerated manner. “Why?”

“Oh, I dunno.” Tch. Stupid question. “Maybe because of the little chat we had had in the graveyard.”

Now he sees genuinely perplexed. “The graveyard?”

“Yeah. Y’know, the place where we all fought.” He shakes his head. “I thought we had connected while you were fading away. I thought we had been on the same page.”

“When I was…fading away…”

_I’m sorry_

_So what?_

_But you don’t think I’ve said enough_

_I’m sorry_

_I (you) don’t care_

_You were never there…_

It hits Lea all at once. It clicks. “You…don’t remember… Do you?” Tears swell behind his eyes at the shake of Isa’s head as his gaze drops. Lea then pinches the bridge of his nose. “Holy shit… You have no memory of that talk.”

“I-I’m sorry…” Isa says. “What was said?”

He takes a deep breath, still trying not to cry. “You had admitted to being jealous of Roxas and Xion. Of my friendship with them. Ironically enough, you also said that if you made it back that I wouldn’t get that admittance out of you a second time.” He shakes his head with a sheepish chuckle. “I told you that I hadn’t forgotten about you.”

He swallows hard. “Was that all?”

“Well…you also… You had fallen over and I—”

“You held me in your arms as I faded away…” Isa’s eyes widen a bit. “I thought that had been a dream…” His voice is soft. Barely audible. “It seemed too good to be true…” He lets out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, Lea. I—I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. You’ve said enough already.”

“There has to be something—”

“That moment was real,” he goes. “And it _meant_ something. And thinking it had been a dream is different than not remembering it at all.”

“Lea—”

“Y’know, confessing wasn’t just some…out of the blue thing I decided to act on. I spent six months thinking it over. Coming at it from every angle. Then when I told you how I felt, it should’ve triggered the memory or something. Even if you had just thought it was a dream. Instead of trying to accept it and work towards something more, though, you chose to dismiss it entirely. So, whatever it is you’re thinking now…” He shakes his head as he begins to walk away. “Leave me out of it.”

“That’s it, then?” Isa calls after him. “There’s no second chance?”

Lea swallows hard. “No. Because I can’t risk you deciding that this isn’t what you want, after all. These last few months have already been hard enough. So no, there’s no second chance.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“Fine. Do you know for sure what it is you want, then?” he asks. Isa doesn’t respond; he just drops his gaze to the floor. “Yeah, you’re right,” Lea goes on. “None of this is fair. But I can’t keep going through this uncertainty. So, this is the end of it.”

Lea turns once more to walk away. This time, Isa doesn’t stop him. A small part of him wishes he would have. Another small part of him wants to turn around and go back. He won’t, though. He can’t. _This is the end of it_. As much as he doesn’t want it to be, it has to be. He had been in over his head with that confession. Now he’ll just let it go. He’ll forget about it.

_As soon as I see you_

_But didn’t I, but didn’t I tell you_

_As deep as I need you_

_You wanna leave it all…_

Lea has been gone for another two months. During this time, Isa hasn’t stopped thinking about their last conversation. Hell, he _can’t_ stop thinking about it. About how much he screwed up. The worst part is that he still doesn’t know exactly what he wants. He feels like it should be obvious, but… Lea was his best friend growing up. And with everything that happened during the Organisation, he never believed it could be the same. He never believed it could be _better_. Lea confessing to him, though, would have been better, though. So much better. So why the hell is Isa so terrified of what could happen? Why is he so afraid of accepting that he may feel the same? Tch. Who is he kidding? He knows exactly why. And it’s because he fears that it will end badly, and then ruin things even further. So, he opted for not letting things get better at all.

He finds himself in Twilight Town. He’s not sure why, but… Radiant Garden has slowly been losing its appeal. And the clock tower’s sunset has been calling his name. And— _Isa?_ Someone is…actually calling his name.

He looks over his shoulder to see Roxas and Xion waving him down. This catches him off guard seeing as they’re usually purposely heading in the opposite direction of him. So, this is a…strange change of pace.

“Hey, what brings you here?” Xion greets him once she and Roxas do catch up.

“Uhm…nothing in particular,” Isa says.

“We’ve seen you around here a lot lately,” Roxas goes on, “but you always seem so out of it.”

Xion nods. “Yeah, it’s a little bit concerning.”

Isa shakes his head. “You two don’t have to worry yourselves over it. It’s fine.”

“Well, what’s been going on?”

“Just have a lot on my mind.”

“Lea?” Roxas says.

He pauses. “What do you mean? What about Lea?”

He rolls his eyes. “We’re not dumb. And we’re not oblivious. I mean, we know that Lea likes you as more than just a friend.”

He takes a deep breath. “Well, as far as I’m concerned, Lea and I are no longer friends.”

Now he scoffs. “Please, despite all that, Lea still hasn’t shut up about you. And he defends you any chance he gets.”

“We don’t know exactly what happened between you two,” Xion speaks up, “but we do know things have been pretty rough.” She smiles. “Lea cares about. And there’s a certain light in his eyes when he does talk about you. It’s very sweet.”

“And annoying,” Roxas says.

“And endearing,” Xion goes on. “So, if those feelings are what all this has been about—”

“Those feelings?” Isa says.

“Y’know…” She shrugs her shoulders, blushing softly. “Romantic feelings.”

_What can I do?_

_Say it’s true_

_Or everything that matters breaks in two_

_Say it’s true_

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you_

_And I know what you want is to figure it out_

_And god knows I do, too_

_Yeah, what can I do?_

_Say it’s true_

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you…_

Now Isa is the one blushing. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

“What’s so complicated?” Roxas asks. “At the graveyard while you were fading away, it seemed pretty obvious that you two would end up together if you made it back.” He gestures to Isa. “You’ve made it back. So why aren’t you two together?”

“Well…we did have a chance, but…” Isa lets out a heavy sigh. “I screwed it up.” Roxas laughs at this and Isa’s brow furrows. “I’m sorry. Is that amusing to you?”

“Yeah. Sounds like something you would screw up.”

Xion’s eyes widen. “ _Roxas_.”

He purses his lips. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You were only there for a single year. You don’t know the full extent of what Lea and I had gone through. And before the Organisation—Having to give all that up…”

“Give all…what up?” another voice asks. Isa freezes. When he turns on his heel, his eyes land on the redhead. Lea quirks an eyebrow. “Well?”

“I didn’t know you were home,” Isa says.

“Just got back.” He looks past him and at the kids. “Could you two excuse us?” Roxas looks like he wants to say _no_ , but Xion grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him away without so much as another word. Lea then focuses back on Isa. “Give what up?” he asks again.

Isa swallows hard. “Our emotions.” Lea opens his mouth for a rebuttal, but Isa raises his hands. “Wait. I know. I know that sounds like an obvious answer. Like the easy answer. But I mean it. When we were kids…” He sighs, pinching his nose. He then traces part of the scar. “We were so close as kids. And I just never thought we would be able to get that back.”

“Right. So…then you decided to not even try.”

He sighs. “Lea—I’m sorry. It’s just… When you confessed, it caught me off guard. And it terrified me. And I know what I said was wrong—”

“It was shitty.”

“You’re right. It was shitty. But I didn’t know how else to react in that moment. I know a confession like that is supposed to make someone feel good, but it only made me feel like I don’t deserve it.” He shakes his head. “I don’t deserve you.”

Lea seems taken aback by this. “Wait… _that’s_ what’s been going through your head?”

“Yes,” Isa says as if it should’ve been obvious. “I don’t understand why you would be in love with me. Especially after everything I did to you and the kids.”

Now he’s chuckling. “Isa… That’s how I knew that I felt this way.”

“I know. You had said that, but—”

“But nothing.” He takes Isa’s hands in his own. “I know I said that I was over it or… I dunno. Whatever the hell I said, but…” He chuckles. “I just can’t make myself believe that it’s over because I don’t want it to be over. I don’t want to give up on you. I want to be with you and no one else.”

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you_

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you…_

Once again, Isa is left not knowing how to respond. So, he decides to react instead. He leans into Lea and kisses him without giving himself a chance to second guess himself. A chance to stop himself. He kisses him and is more than relieved when he feels Lea’s arms wrap around his waist as he reciprocates the kiss.

Why had he been so afraid this? It’s perfect. It’ll be a lot of work, sure, but he knows now that this is what he wants. He wants to be with Lea, too. He wants to fall in love with him. He wants to prove that the past means nothing. That the past means they’re stronger than any obstacle thrown at them. Yeah. Isa wants Lea. And he’s grateful that Lea still wants him. That he’s willing to forget about being over it. That he’s willing to give Isa the second chance that he so desperately wants to fight for.

This is Isa’s new life. And he’s ready to take control.

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you_

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you_

_I’ll never ask for anyone but you_

Lea hadn’t expected Isa to kiss him. Now that he is, though, he couldn’t be happier. This kiss is everything he ever dreamed of and more. It’s better than his dreams. Better than he ever could have imagined. And his arms wrapped around Isa feels incredible. It feels right. Hell, he never wants to let go.

Isa is the one to break the kiss. “I forgot we’re still in the middle of town,” he says.

Lea smiles. “Worried someone will see us?”

“I…don’t think I am.” He blushes softly. “I forgot about everyone else for a moment.”

“Me too.” He kisses Isa’s forehead. Then the bridge of his nose. The centre of the scar. “Do you know what you want now?”

“I think so.” He meets Lea’s gaze and Lea could get lost in that sea of teal. “I’m not sure how good I’ll be in a relationship, but I’m willing to try for you.”

“I’m glad.” He smooths Isa’s hair back. “You don’t have to say it to me, but I do love you, Isa. And I hope I can show you that you deserve this.”

“I hope I can prove I’m worth it.”

“I already know you are.”

They’re kissing again. Right in the middle of town. And if anyone sees them, neither of them care. All they care about is each other. Their future. They don’t know what may or may not happen. They don’t know if it will work out for sure. But they do know that this is what they want. Kissing in the middle of the town as if they’re the only two people in existence. It’s scary and perfect and—

And this is love.


End file.
